2/28: Bagging trophies

Though this article will begin with a couple of Sports Illustrated links, and contains mostly sports trivia questions, man does not live by sports trivia alone, and Trivia Road in turn won't limit itself to any one type of trivia. The mission here is to become an educational and entertaining source of trivia facts and quizzes (and just maybe to post more often than once a month). In that spirit, Trivia Road (@TriviaRoad) will live-tweet tonight's Academy Awards show with possibly interesting, and maybe even relevant, trivia facts.

Possibly interesting links:
Max McGee's life might be worthy of movie treatment. The 38-year-old last-string wide receiver was a most unlikely hero of Super Bowl I and went on to even greater success as a businessman in his post-NFL career: The man behind the legend: McGee's story goes well beyond SB hangover

Earlier this month SI excerpted part of the book This Is Your Brain On Sports: The Science of Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can Learn from the T-Shirt Cannon, by L. Jon Wertheim and Sam Sommers. The quarterback is very frequently considered the golden boy, the best-looking player on the team; the article featured a study that set out to prove or disprove that long-held generalization. The authors showed photos of NFL and NCAA players to several hundred people who rated them on good looks and also how they perceived the player as a leader. They weren't told they were looking at NFL players, but seriously, did they expect people not to recognize Peyton Manning? The study found out that QB is actually not the best-good-looking position on the team at all. Raters found defensive backs, wide receivers and linebackers physically better-looking on average. (Linemen and kickers were not included.) QBs, however, won on almost all of the leadership traits. The authors ultimately proposed that QBs are considered better-looking than their teammates because of facial traits that make them look more like leaders. Handsome Is As Handsome Does: Are QBs really the best-looking players?

The study didn't find much correlation between perceived good looks and championships. Tom Brady (2nd) and Aaron Rodgers (7th) were the only top-10 best-looking QBs to have won Super Bowls. The rest of the top 6 is pretty hilarious as far as QB accomplishments are concerned: 1 – Alex Smith; 3 – Ryan Tannehill; 4 – E.J. Manuel; 5 – Matt Cassell; 6 – Nick Foles. Manuel also received the highest marks for having the look of a leader. The study was done in 2014; Manuel wasn't even a starter by the time 2015 rolled around. Very successful QBs rounded out the top 5 in leadership looks, though, with Matt Ryan, Smith, Brady and Carson Palmer. Jay Cutler, Matthew Stafford and Titans draft bust Jake Locker (last) were among the low-scorers.

#32?

Seriously?

Also on the humorous side, at least to me as a former Rams fan, Sam Bradford (left) was rated the least-good-looking QB in the league (among the projected starters for the 2014 season). Less appealing than Peyton Manning, Brian Hoyer (right), Joe Flacco or Andrew Luck? Huh. Those are not handsome dudes. One caveat: the head shot the authors used for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who came in 31st, was without his Civil War-era beard. Bradford, though, also finished near the bottom for visually giving off the aura of a leader. Well, it played out on the field. Maybe teams should run photos of each year's draft prospects at QB by the people who audition cheerleaders, just in case. Cleveland could have avoided Brandon Weeden AND Johnny Manziel had they just taken the time to conduct proper "Hot or Not" tests.

On to the quiz, inspired by the many trophies and awards that have been in the news the past few weeks (or will be in the news soon):

1. The Super Bowl winner obviously receives the Vince Lombardi trophy, obviously named for the Green Bay Packers' coaching legend, but Lombardi was the head coach for another NFL team besides the Packers. Which one?

Lombardi coached the Washington Redskins from 1969-1970

2. Who's the most recent recipient of the Harley Earl Trophy?

Denny Hamlin; the Harley Earl Trophy goes to the winner of the Daytona 500

3. What was the name of the first yacht to win the America's Cup?

America. The trophy is actually named for the first yacht to win it

4. For whom are the Tony Awards named?

Antoinette Perry, an actress/director/philanthropist who co-founded the American Theatre Wing, which sponsors the award.

The most successful Tony in Tony Awards history I could identify is Tony Walton, who won three Tonys for Scenic Design. He was married to Julie Andrews for eight years.

5. Who receives the BorgWarner Trophy?

The winner of the Indianapolis 500

6. What was the sad fate of the Copa del Rey trophy in 2011?

It was crushed by a bus. Specifically, the bus carrying the victorious Real Madrid players. Defender Sergio Ramos dropped it from the top deck of the bus.

7. What trophy is named for the 16th Earl of Derby?

The Stanley Cup. Lord Stanley, also the 16th Earl of Derby, was the Governor-General of Canada when the Cup was named for him in 1897.

8. What two NFL wide receivers have won Lombardi Trophies as well as the coveted Dancing With the Stars Mirrorball Trophy?

Hines Ward and Donald Driver

9. Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were 2015 co-winners of this trophy (left) for excellence in what scholastic endeavor?

spelling

10. What trophy is modeled after New York University athlete Ed Smith?

The Heisman Trophy. Smith himself didn't learn the sculpture he'd posed for in the 30's became the Heisman until 1982. The Downtown Athletic Club presented Smith his own Heisman Trophy in 1985.

2/7/2016: the Super-expensive Bowl

NY Daily News

Tickets to the inaugural "AFL-NFL World Championship Game", which was not called the Super Bowl until what we now know as Super Bowl IV, cost, as you can see on the left, a whopping $10. Adjusted for inflation, that is around $70 in 2016 prices, still a pretty great deal.

And a much better deal than anything a ticket-buying fan is going to get attending today's game. The lowest face value for a Super Bowl 50 ticket is $850. (The NFL did make 1,000 tickets available in a fan lottery for a mere $500.) The $10 bill that got you into the game in 1967 wouldn't even get you a beer at today's game; the cheapest brew goes for $13.

USA Today

And, of course, everyone knows you can't actually get Super Bowl tickets anywhere at face value. Ticket brokerages SeatGeek.com and StubHub.com both report average prices for seats for the big game in the $4,800 range. This makes Super Bowl 50 the most expensive sports event to attend in history. Two 50-yard-line seats for the game went to a San Jose buyer for $20,500! Each! (As I type this up, SeatGeek's "cheapest" seats are going for $3,255.)

In a sight that should become routine again in L.A. in the 2016 season, the Los Angeles Coliseum was about 2/3 full for the first Super Bowl. It's officially the only Super Bowl that didn't sell out, though Super Bowl XLVIII reportedly came close.

I think it's also fair to say the sideline entertainment has changed just a little over the years...

Actual cheerleaders at Super Bowl I (CNN.com)

Here's a trivia question for Super Bowl Sunday:

The Super Bowl has had 43 different Most Valuable Players in its 50-year history, and 42 of them are still alive to see today's game. Who's the only Super Bowl MVP no longer living?

He passed away in 2001 and was one of the only Super Bowl co-MVPs

Harvey Martin

Sources: CNN, ESPN, K99.com (Denver), MyFox8.com (Charlotte), Seatgeek.com, Wikipedia